US National Bonsai Exhibition, Sept 8-9, 2018

[sean f]

One of my favorite trees there was a literati hornbeam, for some reason it really spoke to me

 

[KeithE]

I am new to the world of pots, but I am starting to really get into it. I have a sincere question:

I have seen 'kokofu-ten quality pot' written a few times here and there, and I was wondering what it is that makes one pot 'kokofu-ten quality' as opposed to another. I am asking because somebody on facebook recently posted a video of kokofu-ten, and i grabbed a few screenshots of some trees or pots that I liked. I attached two example screenshots below. To me, these two pots look like they could easily be Yamafusa and Koyo.

Out of curiosity, can a tokoname pot be 'kokofu-ten quality'?

Also, how does the bonsai national exhibition compare to kokofu-ten with regard to 'pot standards' ? I unfortunately could not make it this year

Thank you!
D

The Nationals exhibition does not have a strict pot requirement. You will see $50 pots next to $1500 pots, As long as the pot is suitable, the composition will be accepted. The pots used in Kokofu are typically very old and/or famous. The two pots you referenced are not Koyo or Yamafusa. The cream is antique Chinese and the glazed is Tofukuji. You will see some Koyo and other modern makers, but they are less common than pots with provenance. Often, the pot will be more valuable than the tree.
Pots are less significant in America, but Nationals did have many great pots. Everyone has a different view on pots, but if you take pride in a tree... spend years preparing it... you will show it in the best possible pot.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I am new to the world of pots, but I am starting to really get into it. I have a sincere question:

I have seen 'kokofu-ten quality pot' written a few times here and there, and I was wondering what it is that makes one pot 'kokofu-ten quality' as opposed to another. I am asking because somebody on facebook recently posted a video of kokofu-ten, and i grabbed a few screenshots of some trees or pots that I liked. I attached two example screenshots below. To me, these two pots look like they could easily be Yamafusa and Koyo.

Out of curiosity, can a tokoname pot be 'kokofu-ten quality'?

Also, how does the bonsai national exhibition compare to kokofu-ten with regard to 'pot standards' ? I unfortunately could not make it this year

Thank you!
D

The aqua-colored rectangle is most likely an antique Cantonese pot. The color, feet, and proportions indicate that.

The cream colored oval is not likely a Yamafusa pot, by the shape, proportions, and the fact that the feet are unglazed. Their ovals are usually proportionally deeper and have glazed feet. Likely this is a very old Japanese pot (Reiho?), and if so, it probably has a history with famous nurseries or shows, or commissioned by a famous artist.

Most of the Tokoname co-op potters don’t make Kokufu-quality pots. Look at your blue rectangle Koyo compared to your oribe round pot by Mrs. K and you can see the difference. The blue one would be ok in a Kokufu show with the right tree. A few of the Tokoname Potters that appear in the Kokufu shows include Koyo, Bigei, Gyouzan, Syuzan, and a few Reiho. A step above this group is the Kyoto potters (Tofu, Gekkou, Ino, Yusen, Kouzan), then antiques, and then historically significant works.

I’ve been to the 4th National, and (selfishly) have books from 3, 4, and 5. From my visit and the books, our pots are improving at a similar pace as the trees. The 2012 book looks like a catalog of unglazed Yamaaki pots. By the 2016 show, I’d still put the “average” pot for the show at around a $300 Tokoname, and the range was from meh domestics to 5-figure painted Yusens. I suspect this year’s pots were even better.

 

[MACH5]

Been searching all morning for information on the Dennis Vojtilla's finest deciduous, but haven't been able to find very much. Would anybody be able to point me to some place where he may have tracked his development?

Maybe he didn't document it at all? Is he on this forum?

I'm curious about how he developed trunk line. Looks like a major chop (one that is to my eyes quite uncomfortable, needless to say). Would love to see progression pictures, or at least pictures of the wound.

Derek, if I remember correctly there were no trunk chops. By looking at it I would not be surprised if it was imported from Japan. The tree was very impressive in its sheer size and of course it was coloring up for the show which always helps grab the attention of the judges. Bill had placed it wisely right at the entrance of the show. I don't believe Dennis is on this forum.

 

[parhamr]

Been searching all morning for information on the Dennis Vojtilla's finest deciduous, but haven't been able to find very much. Would anybody be able to point me to some place where he may have tracked his development?

Maybe he didn't document it at all? Is he on this forum?

I'm curious about how he developed trunk line. Looks like a major chop (one that is to my eyes quite uncomfortable, needless to say). Would love to see progression pictures, or at least pictures of the wound.

Dennis can describe his process quite well, but he always uses examples to show progressions. He’ll line up a few trees at various stages of development to show his process. I’ve never seem him pull out old photos and documentation, but he may well have it.

He doesn’t strike me as a person who keeps up with technology. I’m quite sure I’ve never seen anything online from Dennis himself.

The base of the trunk on that Japanese maple is amazing. It doesn’t really show evidence of how it was made—no scars or lines were visible to me.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

Thank you @KeithE and @Brian Van Fleet for the thoughtful, detailed responses All my of my questions were answered, and some i had not even thought to ask! Thank you!

Thank you @MACH5 and @parhamr for the info about Dennis' tree!

I have no doubt that you are right about the chop Sergio -- to my unexperienced eyes that first branch on the left that aligned itself so well with the main top of the trunk just reminded me so much of @Brian Van Fleet 's chop.

Do you think it was just a bend to the left early in the tree's life, and then lots of time to get it looking like that? The main branch on the lower right would have to be a lucky bad bud years later, or a thread graft? Trunk development is so fascinating! Nothing is as interesting to me as your pygmy though (I am sacrificing about 10-15 trees that I am hoping will develop in that general style of trunk line).

Photos taken from:

https://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/trident-maple-in-the-ground-2/

https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/6th-usnational

 

[f1pt4]

https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/6th-usnational

I wonder why Bonsai Empire didn’t post the Thuja as best canadian tree.. unfortunate for those who will stumble upon the post as it is a magnificent tree.

Originating as a Lenz creation with probably the largest and truly magnificent Lenz pot to boot!

Amazing show. Great people. Wonderful trees. Well done Bill!

 

[Coppersdad]

At Kokofu, both the tree and the pot have to be accepted for an entry to be in the show. About a month before the actual show, the trees are transported to Toyko where the selection committee can determine its “worthiness”.

You can get rejected even with a fabulous tree if the pot is not up to snuff, and vice versa.

We were fortunate to be able to attend the Kokofu in Feb 2018. Our guide is a very well known bonsai master and teacher. He paused at one tree in particular and began to comment on the pot, on it's appearance, history and it's value. As he began to speak, a small man, in a suit and tie tapped him on the shoulder. He bowed deeply to the man and they spoke in Japanese. We were introduced to the gentleman and learned he was the owner of the tree.

After the man and his wife departed, we learned the pot alone was valued at US$250,000. "You see," our guide said, "there are only six of them in the world. the man you just met owns five."

 

[MACH5]

Thank you @KeithE and @Brian Van Fleet for the thoughtful, detailed responses All my of my questions were answered, and some i had not even thought to ask! Thank you!

Thank you @MACH5 and @parhamr for the info about Dennis' tree!

I have no doubt that you are right about the chop Sergio -- to my unexperienced eyes that first branch on the left that aligned itself so well with the main top of the trunk just reminded me so much of @Brian Van Fleet 's chop.

Do you think it was just a bend to the left early in the tree's life, and then lots of time to get it looking like that? The main branch on the lower right would have to be a lucky bad bud years later, or a thread graft? Trunk development is so fascinating! Nothing is as interesting to me as your pygmy though (I am sacrificing about 10-15 trees that I am hoping will develop in that general style of trunk line).

Photos taken from:

https://nebaribonsai.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/trident-maple-in-the-ground-2/

https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/6th-usnational

Probably done very early in the life of the tree. I have some maples in the ground that I chopped and/or bent. Now after many years scars are all healed and any evidence of human intervention has been erased. Regardless, in the course of working with a tree through the years, you'll will end up with chops and scars. It's inevitable. I have never minded them as long as they are well done. They will also after many years will blend in with the rest of the bark and become virtually invisible.

 

[barrosinc]

I liked that last nationals there was a finest creative bonsai.

 

[MACH5]

Nice video from Bonsai Empire:

 

[Adair M]

We were fortunate to be able to attend the Kokofu in Feb 2018. Our guide is a very well known bonsai master and teacher. He paused at one tree in particular and began to comment on the pot, on it's appearance, history and it's value. As he began to speak, a small man, in a suit and tie tapped him on the shoulder. He bowed deeply to the man and they spoke in Japanese. We were introduced to the gentleman and learned he was the owner of the tree.

After the man and his wife departed, we learned the pot alone was valued at US$250,000. "You see," our guide said, "there are only six of them in the world. the man you just met owns five."

There is a blue pot that appears every year at Kokofu that is conservatively valued at $1 Million. It gets rented for use at Kokofu. $100,000 for the week of Kokofu. Each year, everyone eagerly awaits the opportunity to see which tree gets to use it. It has held many Kokofu Prize winners!

 

[Deleted member 21616]

[...] After the man and his wife departed, we learned the pot alone was valued at US$250,000.

There is a blue pot that appears every year at Kokofu that is conservatively valued at $1 Million. It gets rented for use at Kokofu. $100,000 for the week of Kokofu. Each year, everyone eagerly awaits the opportunity to see which tree gets to use it. It has held many Kokofu Prize winners!

Nothing against you two, i'm really glad you're sharing these stories! However, doesn't this all seem slightly beyond the art? As far as appearances go--and, after all, our primary concerns are aesthetic--i can't imagine how a thousand dollar pot (never mind one worth 10 or 100 times that!) would better serve the purpose as opposed to a visually similar (not to say identical) pot worth only a few hundred dollars.

I appreciate tradition, history, and story, and i do see the value as well as the function in old or rare pots, but it's boring that this might feature so terrificaly when it comes to qualifying or in fact winning an exhibition.

I much prefer the lighter side of the kokofu world that @Brian Van Fleet was describing above! What a reasonable place that seemed to be!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nothing against you two, i'm really glad you're sharing these stories! However, doesn't this all seem slightly beyond the art? As far as appearances go--and, after all, our primary concerns are aesthetic--i can't imagine how a thousand dollar pot (never mind one worth 10 or 100 times that!) would better serve the purpose as opposed to a visually similar (not to say identical) pot worth only a few hundred dollars.

I appreciate tradition, history, and story, and i do see the value as well as the function in old or rare pots, but it's boring that this might feature so terrificaly when it comes to qualifying or in fact winning an exhibition.

I much prefer the lighter side of the kokofu world that @Brian Van Fleet was describing above! What a reasonable place that seemed to be!

Sure, but you’re just starting down the road of pot addiction, so you’ll get there?. Something cool about hand-made collectible art, and some Bonsai pots are in that realm, similar to fine vases, sculpture, paintings, even cars.

My son is way into exotic cars (he’s 10) and we were watching a guy on YouTube showing his garage/office, loaded with several McClaren/Mercedes JV cars, a few Bugatti, a Rolls, a Pagani, a Koenigsegg, etc. He talked about what made each one of them unique. Even within a model where only a handful existed, he still described something unique about his. You can get to that level with nearly any collectible art, but you don’t have to. My JGC gets us around and my son likes it too...though, he’s always looking out the window for a cool car.

 

[Adair M]

Nothing against you two, i'm really glad you're sharing these stories! However, doesn't this all seem slightly beyond the art? As far as appearances go--and, after all, our primary concerns are aesthetic--i can't imagine how a thousand dollar pot (never mind one worth 10 or 100 times that!) would better serve the purpose as opposed to a visually similar (not to say identical) pot worth only a few hundred dollars.

I appreciate tradition, history, and story, and i do see the value as well as the function in old or rare pots, but it's boring that this might feature so terrificaly when it comes to qualifying or in fact winning an exhibition.

I much prefer the lighter side of the kokofu world that @Brian Van Fleet was describing above! What a reasonable place that seemed to be!

Which would you rather look at:

1) the Mona Lisa;

Or

2) a copy of the Mona Lisa

 

[0soyoung]

Which would you rather look at:

1) the Mona Lisa;

Or

2) a copy of the Mona Lisa

OR

would you rather be able to tell the difference.

 

[sorce]

slightly beyond the art?

90% $.
10% art.

They say new pots new trees old pots old trees.
The "new" side has little meaning.
But the OLD side!

It really can feel like the tree has been in that pot their entire lives together when that pot has AGE.

But....I believe it's a subtlety that can't cross oceans. I mean...their "Age" is 0 IMO upon importing...we know they couldn't have lived together for so long.

I think we'll "see" more "age" when American pots get that patina.

Hell....American Patina is going to be completely different.

The only American Potter I know to throw with a similar finish to an Antique is is Lynn August.

Almost everything else seems a rougher texture.

Any Way....oh shit...

I believe this is the pot I held at our show...
As Owen has it for sale on FB Bonsai Sales.

Thick with age.

S

 

[GGB]

Loved seeing so many native trees on display AND for sale. Saw my very first (in person) show quality Jack pine, pitch pines and eastern white pine. Funny to think I haven't seen/heard about 99% of what's going on in the bonsai world. Never regret hiking out to these things, but really wish PA/NJ/MD would host something like this.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

OR

would you rather be able to tell the difference.

That requires studying and learning. If you can’t tell the difference, there no reason to care.
Either is fine; being in one camp and throwing rocks at the other is when we get in trouble.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

Sure, but you’re just starting down the road of pot addiction, so you’ll get there?.

haha! i'm going to depend on you to stop me before it gets too bad! my wife has no idea this form of addiction even exists, nevermind that i have it!